Path to Divinity
by Zay-el
Summary: 2011 REVISED EDITION The journey of a boy through another world, seeking answers to his purpose and solace from the shadows.
1. Child's Play

Hy!

If you're already familiar with this story(somewhat), no doubt you have some questions about what happened. To be honest, while I still enjoy the idea of writing Path to Divinity, I had to realize that the long hiatus put things in a new perspective. The story no longer fulfilled the vision of how I wanted it to be, as I've since revised many plot points and key elements, not to mention severely cut back on the abnormal amount of purple prose I kept inflicting on the unsuspecting reader. As such, after giving it a few days' thought, I've decided to reboot the story completely.

Some parts will be mostly similar as they've been in the old one, but a lot of things will indeed be different, I can assure everyone of that. You won't be reading just a rethread, this will be somewhat different. However, anyone still interested in the original version, while I have deleted it in order to lessen the confusion, I'm keeping a backup copy of it, for old times' sake. If you're interested, drop me a PM and I'll gladly send it to you. All in all, Path to Divinity is going to start anew, hopefully better than ever. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed planning and writing it, over the years.

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 1: Child's Play<em>**

„Red Glute, second circle from the green square, facing northeast."

Ly's ears perked up slightly to the call, the game once again grabbing her attention, despite her solemn vow of not even attempting to listen any longer, lest she wished to spend another couple of minutes confused. Nevertheless, in the end, she glanced up briefly from the worn book she's been trying to absorb herself in, spying at the two playing just a few feet before her.

Their game was an unknown one, ever to her ancient kind. It bore no resemblance to any kind of board game in existence, nor did it seem to show any relation to card or outdoor games. It was in a league of its own, though that also meant that no one had been capable of grasping the elaborate rules it possessed. By now, she guessed it didn't actually have any set rules at all. Several times she'd tried to understand, but even with both of them trying their best to teach her, she grasped nothing of it.

The actual board was just a throw-away scrap, a draft for a possibly much more elaborate and majestic wood-carving. Right now, it was hardly any more than a collection of random shapes and colors, mashed together onto a chipped, slightly singed oak-wood tablet. The figurines they used for playing were gathered from every corner of the Glade and the chaotic hierarchy they were bestowed made it hard to even remember, which served what kind of purpose. Not that it mattered, since she was pretty sure the boys didn't know it either. She was fairly sure they were just making everything up as they went.

Both of them were staring so intently on the board though, that it almost made her giggle. They were taking it as seriously as one could, scowling, smirking and frowning, whichever emotion the flow of the game produced. Despite the fact that she had little to no idea who was actually winning, to her, sometimes just watching them was fun enough. Salian's long sessions of intense staring, couple with several unplanned attempts at sleeping with his eyes open, along with Ray's jittery motions as his attention span kept hitting its end every few seconds, were far more amusing, than whatever ancient incantation she was supposed to be memorizing.

"Purple Tribelle, left edge, above the jagged rectangle." the limbless being reached out for the piece, only to be halted by an exaggerated cough from his opponent.

"Void. You know you can't move them like that." he stated, the shadow of a scowl forming on his face. This game was far too serious to devolve into outright cheating. "Pull you piece back or you'll stay out of the next round."

"But you just did that a few rounds ago. Twice!" Ray was not about to fall into the trap of being intimidated; especially when he was convinced he was right.

"I moved it in the shade of the Black Oak though." Salian seemed a bit thrown back by his denial, but kept a straight face nonetheless. Keeping one's cool was important, especially when trying to support an already shoddy lie.

"Which was blocked by my two-headed Teensie; don't think I wasn't looking!" the limbless pointed at both figures, which were positioned the exact same way he had claimed.

"You're just looking for excuses."

"You're cheating!"

"You're cheating!"

The fairy raised a brow as both boys sprung to their feet, glaring at each other with just a few inches between their faces. One could almost feel the tension smoldering, threatening to consume everything in the next few seconds. Neither of them seemed inclined to make the first motion of attack however, much to Ly's relief. She really didn't want to see them once again try and pound the living daylights out of each other, especially as such duels usually resulted in nothing more than them laughing off the few bruises they've exchanged, and then sit back for another round.

The two continued to try and stare each other down, neither giving up any ground for the longest time. Ly let out a barely audible sight, returning to her learning material soon enough. She figured if they hadn't yet begun to fight, they probably wouldn't proceed with it anytime soon. Sure enough, she could tell the atmosphere was already lightening up.

"Bonus round?" Salian asked eventually, his face slowly contorting into a wicked grin. These self-imposed bonus rounds were their second-to-best options of settling such disputes.

"Goal?" Rayman asked back, jumping to the challenge right away, as always. He wasn't known to be one to flee from a lot of things, which was just as much of a burden, as a boon.

Ly listened intently, wondering just what they'd think of this time. These bonus rounds were always as varied and outlandish as possible, ranging from climbing a tree with only one's hands, to ticking off a higher-ranked fairy in the shortest time possible. What they had planned this time around, she could not even begin to guess.

As much as she tried to listen though, she heard not a single word uttered about a possible objective so far. The silence confused her at first, and then made her nervous instead. She suddenly felt them gaze straight at her, which didn't bode well, considering they apparently haven't decided on their goal yet. Some would have called this paranoia, but to her, it was more than justified.

"Catch the fairy!" Salian boomed, the imaginary bell signaling the start of today's bonus round.

By the time he actually finished saying that, Ly had already bolted off, fleeing away from the clearing and straight into the forest, hoping the lose them in the thick woods. She cursed herself playfully for not expecting this from the very beginning, as neither of the boys could stand to see her studying, while they were around. They had their own assignments as well, as far as she dared to guess, but they repeatedly kept forsaking work for some entertainment, which seemed to be her capture, as of now.

Sometimes she almost wondered for a moment why she repeatedly chose to hang out with these two, but the answer always came to her in just mere moments: because it was fun. More fun than being with her sisters and definitely more fun than anything the Council had to offer. Rayman's energetic and playful nature, along with the more introspective, often quite interesting discussions she has had with Salian, proved to be infinitely better, than most other choices she had.

Being a few years older than them usually meant little more than the ability to scold them effectively, if someone else was watching as well. In any other situation though, neither were bothered much by the gap of a few years, if anything, it just gave them enough reason to gang up on her, occasionally. In the very beginning, she tried to be more of an "older sister-like" figure to them, especially since both Betilla and Salian's mother asked her to try and keep an eye out for the two delinquents. In the end however, she became little more than another accomplice of theirs; a slightly older, but no less playful friend.

Nonetheless, friendship or not, she had no intention of being captured by them. A sharp turn here and there, along with the occasional bursts of sprinting seemed to be more than enough to lose them just about completely. She couldn't help but hold a sly smirk already, knowing they had to be very far behind. It was close to impossible to outrun a fairy like her, once she really put her mind to it.

While usually there was still a good chance of them stumbling upon her by accident, she didn't wish to give them the chance of doing so this time around. Unlike what they probably expected, she didn't actually just run around randomly. The twists and turns of her escape route had been much more of a series of diversions, to throw them off. A quick inspection helped her find the tree she was looking for; a huge, towering oak, with a sizeable hole inside it. She'd found it to be the perfect hiding place, whenever she needed a quick escape.

_I'll stay here for about an hour or so…that should probably be enough. _She thought, smiling to herself. Once the boys gave up on their chase, or better yet, were looking around for her with worry even, she would come out and have a good laugh.

Approaching the tree, she reached out for the edges of the hole, peeking into the dark interior. It was nigh-impossible to see anything, or anyone from outside, which only made it even better. Slowly, she began to climb inside, careful not to hit herself in anything. The hole was remarkably spacious, but it never hurt to be cautious, lest she wished to bruise herself.

Moments before she could have eased herself in there, however, she suddenly felt a pair of strong hands grab her from either side, holding her down in case she tried to jump out.

"Well, hello there…" she heard them chuckle, her ears lowering in fear mixed with annoyance, as she was forced to realize her secret hideout might have not been so hidden after all.

* * *

><p>"I trust he's still not a burden to you, then?"<p>

"Not at all." the fairy chuckled, taking a slow sip from her still steaming herbal mixture. She brushed her long scarlet hair back slightly, letting it fall behind the shoulder parts of her green-yellow robes. "He's got a good head on his shoulders and shines pretty well, whenever he doesn't get distracted."

Past her prime years, but still as strong as ever, Betilla had been the High Fairy of the Fairy Council for centuries, reigning over the Dream Glade and most of the surrounding regions as well. Her features still held the beauty she'd been revered and envied for, but her eyes were especially telltale of how many years she had put behind herself by now. Many still depended on her decisions and sought her advice though, exhausting but also delighting the fairy.

"I have a feeling that might be too difficult, even for you." Shya mused, a slightly tired, but nonetheless happy smile forming on her face. Her duties were of a much lesser magnitude, than Betilla's, but she'd seen and experienced many things that had put more on her shoulders, than the passing of time ever could. Shifting slightly in her sit, she placed her left leg over the other, the prickly feeling letting her know it had gone sleepy.

Steadily growing up, her son had become quite the handful, often proving almost too much for her to keep out of trouble. Chances of him doing so had become even less, now that he'd picked up a circle of close friends. Sure, they were all looking out for each other, or so they insisted, but he still often ended up coming home late, filthy, bruised, or all of the above.

"I wouldn't quite say that." Betilla assured, waving her hand in dismissal. "Sure, distractions lurk around every corner, but as soon as you motivate him with something, it becomes much easier to focus his attention."

While Shya had some doubts about asking a revered fairy like Betilla, to teach her son, her old tutor accepted the job without a second thought. Although her son had not yet exhibited any abilities that could be related to magic even the slightest, but there was still a lot the fairies of the Council could teach him, from simple history, to introductions into the magical arts, even if he could only join into these in theory.

Salian's existence continued to be a rather unique part of the fairy community, though then again, this community also cared for a being with no visible limbs. Far throughout, no one seemed to have heard of a male fairy and while he did indeed lack several notable physical features as well as magical talents, it was still the only way they could define her adopted son.

"What exactly do you mean by 'motivation'?" she asked, even though she had a fairly good idea, what she'd been alluding to.

"Putting him with a very promising fairy has been one of my best decisions as of late, if I'm allowed to flatter myself." the elder fairy remarked, with a hint of amusement in her voice. "Not only does it create a slightly competitive atmosphere, but she's very good at keeping him focused." she took a moment to think, her smile widening. "Of course, that focus often tends to become her, rather than the actual studies he should be doing, but I call that enough of a success." she winked at Shya, as the fairy started giggling a bit.

Ly had been a wonderful addition to the duo of Salian and Rayman, as it had turned out. Although by fairy standards, she was still very much a child, she fulfilled a perfect older sister role to the two boys, alternating between playing, helping, bossing and scolding them. From time to time, Shya almost considered asking her if she wished to move in with them, but knew that since she's gotten a home in the Glade all to herself, she wouldn't have given up her newly found freedom for anything.

"You've chosen well, I'll have to give you that." she nodded, her dark hair flowing onto her shoulders from the motion. "She's very good at keeping Sal out of-"

She never had the chance to finish her sentence, as the door swung open rather violently, the hinges straining for a moment to keep it in place. Both fairies leaned forward slightly, wondering what just happened, their powers at their immediate disposal, if needed. Once the first few tense seconds passed though, it turned out there was no need for that after all. The scene unfolding before them was in no way threatening, skimming much more on the side of awkwardness.

Ly came in first, her arms folded before her chest, a look of angry disapproval stuck on her face. Her posture and features were almost regal, but the image was greatly destroyed by the fact that grass stains and mud seemed to form an almost delicate pattern upon her otherwise bright body suit; the purple and yellow dimmed from the nasty stains.

Several questions immediately appeared in Shya's head about what might have happened, starting with her son's location, why she came here instead of her own home, despite being welcome at all times and as to what might have happened that got her so filthy all of a sudden. Some of these were answered shortly as the young fairy turned around, glaring at the door.

"Both of you cowards can come in now! Have fun explaining yourselves!" she growled, to seemingly no one.

Two heads peeked out from either sides of the door frame, cautiously judging the distance between it and the fairy, before actually revealing themselves. Shya couldn't help, but sigh, while Betilla was bordering on a giggle-fit, as the two boys finally appeared in all their glorious ruin. They seemed like they've been fighting through a whole forest, at least twice as dirty as Ly was, leaf shards stuck on their faces. Rayman even had a twig sticking out of his hair; either it was too small to notice, or he'd been much too preoccupied to care about it.

Rayman and Salian slowly trotted into the room, dragging a thick patch of mud and plant-parts everywhere they went. They barely dared to go past the forest fairy, who seemed much more like their greatest nightmare right now, than a good friend. Both Shya and Betilla eased back into their chairs right after, the mother shaking her head slightly, while the elder fairy was very obviously amused.

"Then again, maybe I'm wrong…" Shya ventured finally, resting her forehead in her palm for a moment, the shadow of a smile playing in the corner of her mouth nonetheless.


	2. Gathering Storm

A little later than I had hoped so (blame Hurricane Irene), but the next part of the rewrite is finally ready! For any who might still remember the old version, these first 2-3 chapters will be the ones with the most visible differences, right down to the overall plot of them. I felt there were a lot of things wrong with the original, especially in the stylistic department...conversations had flown badly and it just altogether didn't meet the standard I had put down later on. Hopefully, this version will be better suited to the overall story and perhaps prove to be a much better read as well!

Enjoy!

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 2: Gathering Storm<em>**

The first few moments past awakening were the hardest to bear. Even though the shadows of the night were banished the moment his eyes sprung open, feelings continued to linger around in him for a short while, tormenting even the sweetest of mornings. The images; those horrible portrayals of misery were always extinguished with the nightmares themselves, but their imprint upon his mind did not go without some reaction, even if by now it eased into slight trembles of the body.

Slowly, almost cautiously, he raised a hand to his head, wiping the more stubborn beads of sweat off his brow. His breath still came in the form of mild panting, his rapidly beating heart telltale of the horrors he had seen, just a few minutes ago. The boy paused for a little while longer, before he shook his head and threw the covers off.

"I could really do without these…" Salian muttered and inhaled deeply to ease up.

The nightmares had been punishing his sleep for two straight weeks, before he had even told his mother about them. Of course, there wasn't really much she could do about it, but a visit to a few of the older fairies seemed to have made it at least marginally better. They still returned every now and then, but the herbs they had given him usually helped his sleep to be deep and dreamless. He gladly sacrificed the little flavor, in return for calm nights.

A stray noise eventually made him flinch from his thoughts, the call of his name from below reminding him the morning was still going on, with or without him. He didn't really need to ask back to know why he was sought though. Perhaps through their bond of family, or just the heightened perception fairies possessed, but his mother could always tell when he'd wake up. Most of the time, he found it annoying, as it pretty much eliminated the chance of spending an extra five minutes in bed.

"Fifteen minutes!" he called, springing out of the bed to emphasize the promise.

True to his word, following a brief morning bath and an even quicker dressing up, he passed through the kitchen door a mere minute later than he had announced. Shya had long since finished eating and instead only offered a slight, disciplinary glance to his tardiness. She was already in her Council robes, suggesting she would be heading there shortly. Her hair was neatly tied in a large knot, showing her as a more serious subset of pretty.

"When you say fifteen, either try and stick to it, or say twenty." she scolded him lightly, though rather tired of having to repeat herself just about every other morning. Some things just never seemed to change.

"My clock must be broken again…" he jested with a faint grin as he snatched a few larger grapes from his plate.

"I checked it yesterday. You'll have to come up with something better than that." the fairy threatened, though her words had no force behind them. She too, had a smile in the corner of her mouth, but she still intended to go through these well-known loops. "Slept well?"

"Mostly. The last hour or so hadn't been the most pleasant, but it was slightly better than usual." he answered, his hands never stopping in their steady motion of transporting food to his mouth, resulting in better to worse communication skills, over time.

"You'd better see the elder healers about them again, some day." she suggested, even though she knew he resented the idea. They were always slightly more critical of his lack of powers and distinctive features.

"Yeah, I'll do that…" he remarked briefly and solemnly, not really wishing to talk about them any longer, than absolutely necessary.

Growing up in such a unique way had not been the easiest task, as many harbored both expectations and fears about him. While not the most vocal, some actually suggested he wasn't actually a fairy and must have belonged to some far-away Polokus-forsaken continent. Understandably, these opinions didn't quite go well with neither mother, or child.

"Which also reminds me, you have a guest waiting for you outside." she spoke up again, skimming away from the previous topic and to drive away the awkward silence that had begun to settle down.

"Really? Why didn't you say so already?" he seemed genuinely surprised.

"Because then you'd have run off without even a morsel of food in your belly. I know you quite well, remember?" she purred. It was her turn to be the one grinning.

"I can never win." the boy chuckled, looking almost embarrassed.

Placing his dish upon the small pile waiting to be washed, he headed straight towards the door, only stopping to give his mother a quick kiss on the cheek. Shya returned the gesture and ruffled his already unruly hair a bit, shaking her head.

"How did I manage bring up such an untidy young man?" she sighed in mock-sadness. "How do you plan on being attractive to anyone, all the while looking like someone who lives in the wilderness?"

"Natural charm." he winked and chuckled, waving goodbye while he heading to the door. "—and a great deal of hope!"

He didn't wait for a retort and left instead, heading through the door before the next little sting from Shya. Upon exiting however, he was momentarily surprised to finally see who'd been waiting on her. He expected Rayman, or perhaps some other friend of theirs, but the young fairy in the yellow-purple bodysuit was just as welcome, if not even more!

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to make a girl wait?" she asked, skipping the greeting entirely.

He half-expected her to be angry, but while her sitting on a flat rock, arms crossed and one leg over the other was usually indeed a bad sign, the playful smile on her face indicated a change in patterns. Whenever he and Rayman managed to anger her as badly as they had yesterday, she held a grudge against them for the next couple days which also meant that every step in the Glade was liable to be a death-trap.

"I didn't think you'd want to see us for a while." he answered truthfully, a hopeful smile growing on his face. "It's good to see we were wrong."

The fairy let out a slightly mocking giggle to that, while she stood up again. She calmly walked up to the boy and eyed him for a few seconds, as if measuring him, which raised a couple of warnings again. The two were close to equal in height, though Ly had ways of looking intimidating enough to appear bigger. A few more awkward moments of silence passed by, before she finally raised her hand, handing Salian a slap, though it hardly did more than just leave a mild sting.

"Now we're even...for the moment, that is." she spoke up again, smirking rather evilly. Fairies were mostly good by nature, but it seemed like none of them could go without a bit of mischievousness.

"Are you planning on greeting Rayman like this, too?" the boy asked, rubbing his cheek with an expression changing back and forth from hurt, to amused.

"Don't be silly." she dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. She turned around and started walking towards where she knew the Fairy Council was, Salian quickly catching up to her. "Rayman has been my friend for many years now and I owe my life to him several times over." she added, a spark flaring up in her eyes. "He'll get two."

"Oh, so he's the privileged one?" he smirked, a kind of dark happiness brooding in his heart from the thought that he wasn't the one grasping the shorter end this time around.

"Keep the jokes to a minimum, or I might equal it out!" Ly raised her index finger, giving him a firm warning.

The two began to walk towards the Fairy Council, more or less prepared for their daily lectures. While Salian's were much more along an academic line, Ly was being educated in the arts of practical magic use. The event during the Pirate Invasion had proven, that she was more than ready to be taught of the arcane arts. Ever since her ability to create Silver Lums ha surfaced, she'd been one of the elder fairy's prime concerns.

Much to Salian's surprise though, none of this had gotten too much into her head. While fairies were naturally pure creatures, that never meant they weren't capable of mistakes and vanity often got the better of them. Ly on the other hand, was very modest about herself, even with all her talents and beauty.

"Sal?" she called, pulling the boy back into reality right away, to his slight disappointment.

"Huh...yes? Sorry, I spaced out for a moment." he ventured, shaking his head a bit.

"Right." the fairy downright purred, smirking softly. There was something about that smile that always made the boy feel uncomfortable. It was an unwritten law between them, that Ly would never use the psychic aspects of her power on them, but he couldn't help but feel like sometimes she knew what was in his head even without that.

"I hate it when you look at me like that." he groaned, feeling a soft blush creep upon his face.

"Like what?" the fairy mused innocently, amused of how simple it was to tease the young boy. "I'm sorry." she chuckled right after, ending his short-lived torture. "You shouldn't let me mess around with you so easily." she advised, her smirk shifting back into just a gentle smile.

"Easier said, than done..." he grumbled, though in no way really angry at her.

"At least you're feeling better now, right?" she asked, chuckling at the confused look on his face. "Don't play dumb, Sal. Your eyes are baggy and slightly blood-shot, too. You've been having nightmares again, haven't you?"

"For the past two weeks, I think..." he sighed and hung his head slightly, not seeing any point in hiding it from her. Regardless how they might have teased each other from time-to-time, Ly still behaved much like an older sister to them. "Sometimes better, sometimes worse, but they're definitely there..."

"Perhaps you should see-"

"No." he cut her off unexpectedly firmly. "I'm sorry...but I don't really want to see them right now."

Ly gazed at him with a concerned, but sympathetic look on her face. She knew quite well what bothered him about the elders he should have seen right away, once his nightmares had reappeared. While most inhabitants of the Dream Glade were more or less friendly towards him, the four elder healers held contempt to him, if not downright resentment. They neither liked, nor approved of his presence in the region, as if he were some kind of threat to them.

"You never did tell us what exactly happened the last time they tried to help you." Ly spoke up again, breaking the awkward silence. She could sense the boy tensing up to the mere mention of that. "Was it that bad?" she asked in the most soothing tone she could conjure.

"Worse." he ventured, memories flooding his mind. Part of him wanted to just stop talking about this altogether, but the more the fairy gazed at him, the more he felt like he could trust her with most of it.

"They reached deep into my mind to lift whatever veil was there." he began, closing his eyes for a moment. His mouth went dry as he remembered the fairies using their powers to bring the center of his nightmares to surface. "They said there was some kind of a...focal point of shadows in me. As they tried to purge it from me, it burned...it hurt beyond imagination." he found himself breather harder with each sentence, his hand trembling a little.

"And, did it work?" Ly asked, not wanting him to relive these kind of memories any longer than absolutely necessary. "Did they manage to destroy it?"

"I could never tell for sure." he shrugged, rubbing the bridge of his nose, trying to ease up again. The procedure was a most traumatic one and he preferred not to talk about it for any longer than absolutely necessary. "When they checked, it wasn't there. Still, my nightmares are back, so it might have just been...I don't know, hiding maybe?" he sighed deeply, shaking his head. "That's all I can tell you, really."

The fairy smiled and walked up to him, wrapping her arms around the boy for a few moments. "It's okay." she mused, her long ear twitching slightly as his hair tickled it. "I appreciate you being this honest with me." she broke the hug up soon enough, but continued to smile at him, brushing her dark-blue hair out of her eyes.

"I...uh...you're welcome." he was rather visibly flustered by the show of affection, even though he should have been used to this by now. Still, looking back into the pretty green eyes always made an impact on him. "It's just not something I like to talk about much."

"I understand. I won't force you." she nodded slightly, the gentle smile on her face helping him calm down again. Her tail flicked slightly as a soft breeze swept past them, while the air turned a tiny bit hotter for a short while. "We should hurry up, it'll rain soon!" she stated.

Salian didn't argue, but merely picked up the pace a bit. Being so attuned to nature, fairies could easily sense even slight weather changes, just be reading a couple of signs. Foretelling rain was definitely not one of her strong points though, thus this 'soon' could have easily meant just a minute or two. The two continued towards the Council together, both hoping they'd get inside before the storm might hit.

* * *

><p>"Globox! Globox!"<p>

The large blue toad turned his head towards the noise, easily holding onto the large box of bowls and plates he'd been carrying. It wasn't hard to identify the call, considering it was a male voice and most of his children were still very much on the squeaky side. That left the possible candidates at only a handful and since he had only a few guests today, he could easily tell who it was.

He sighed, but kept smiling, putting the large box down and turning back to see what was going on. His guest couldn't really be seen, though the large mountain of Glute children in the middle of the field was rather telltale. His suspicions were confirmed right away, when he saw a yellow shoe outside the pile.

"Little help please?" came another muffled call from under the legions of squeaking little toads, sounding close to desperate.

"I swear, how do you always manage to pick the games they can turn against you the most easily?" he chuckled, walking towards the pile and the trapped limbless under it. The question was mostly rhetorical though, as Rayman was far too occupied trying to breathe, rather than to answer. He watched this constantly shape-shifting dome a bit longer, before speaking up again. "Dessert is inside, kiddies!" he shouted, loud enough for all of them to hear.

Almost immediately, the children stopped whatever they had been doing and headed straight towards the house. Uglette was standing in the window, holding up a few pies to prove it wasn't a trick at all. The results were remarkable, as once the whole lot of babies scurried off, Rayman was free once again although almost dented into the ground by now.

"This is the last time I played with them like that!" Rayman remarked, trying to get back up on his feet. "I got lucky, but a few more months, or years and they'll crush me!"

He was just grumbling and Globox knew that as well. He always had far too much fun playing with them and as such, his threat hardly meant anything. Not that he would mention that, since he didn't need to. The kids' beloved "Uncle" Rayman would come back tomorrow to play with them just the same.

"I thought you had left for the Council already." the Glute mused, ignoring his complaining altogether. "Weren't you supposed to go there for something?"

"Well, sort-of." Rayman admitted, scratching the back of his head a bit. "Would you believe that even with all I've done, some fairies still insist I might have a couple things to learn?"

"Actually, yes. I can imagine that pretty easily." Globox remarked, crossing his arms. "Rayman, no one doubts that you're hero and no one would even dare say you don't know how to use your powers. You might even know perfectly well how to look out for yourself in the wilderness!"

"But!" he held up his index finger, emphasizing his words. "Just like everyone else, there's a whole lot more you could learn, especially lore-related. Knowing a couple of hints and pointers could come in handy, so you wouldn't face anything without having a backup plan. For instance, you could have saved yourself a lot of aching fingers, if you knew beforehand, that Knaaren are invincible."

"Ugh...being a father has really gotten to you..." the limbless groaned. He could imagine nothing more boring, than having to read or listen to endless stories, however good they might be. He was a man of perpetual motion, he just couldn't sit still for long, without doing something. "Okay, I know you're right...but I still refuse to go."

"I was sure you'd say that." Globox chuckled, patting his friend's back with his rather large hand. They'd known each other for quite a few years now and as such, were quite aware of what the other was like. "I'd just feel guilty, if I didn't remind you every now and then."

Rayman smirked rather mischievously, assuring Globox that his advice would not be heard, as usual. Out of the two of them, the limbless had always been the wilder, running into all sorts of trouble, just about every second of the day. He made a habit of dragging everyone else into it, but to his credit, if something happened, he always took full responsibility. He was a loyal friend, if a little too free-spirited, at times.

"You could escort me there, if you want me to go though." he offered his hand, though the Glute wasn't ready to believe that. The limbless had ulterior motives, he could have sworn upon that.

"Rayman, I'm not an idiot." he remarked, crossing his arms. "I know why you want to go, all of a sudden. I might as well go with you, so you won't be able to tempt Ly and Salian so easily."

"You see right through me." the limbless chuckled, gazing up at Globox.

It was almost an irony of life, how a creature half the Glute's height, had managed to save the world from unspeakably evil foes several times over by now. Such a strange creature he was and yet in that small frame, was a heart greater than giants and power that rivaled that of elder fairies of the Council.

Along with that, being a hero was just one thing. Rayman accomplished just as much simply by being a friendly creature, who was very hard to dislike. He was strong, considerate and never backed down, when his friends needed him. Even though he knew full-well, that Globox wouldn't be able to engage a larger fight, simply because he was too afraid, he'd never teased him about it.

They'd made many jokes at each others' advance, but never had the limbless ever been mean-spirited to him, nor his huge family. Better yet, he loved playing around with his kids, all several hundreds of them. Neither he, nor his darling wife could have been more thankful for all the times he'd helped them, over the years.

"In any case-" he finally spoke up again, discarding his trail of thoughts. "-if you want to go, we'd best leave quickly. The storm will hit in a few minutes."

No single creature in the Glade could tell such things better than Glutes, masters of their own special rain dance. Rayman knew this well and immediately left along with his friend. Even though they acknowledged the coming storm, they still couldn't resist joking around with each other, while heading towards the Council.

* * *

><p><em>The stage is set.<em>

With a quick move, he pocketed the binoculars in the folds of his cloak, staring off into the distance without it. He was out of sight and most definitely out the sensing range of any of those accursed fairies. The shadows did well in concealing him for the most part and the darkening sky served as a favorable omen as well.

A multitude of feelings kept racing inside him, though the majority of it were negative ones. Anger, resentment and maliciousness were the usual mixture he drew his willpower from, although several less than pleasant feelings coursed in him as well. He rid himself of any shadows of doubt however, focusing on the task at hand.

"Master?"

He flinched slightly to the noise, the sounds drawing his sight downwards, to the smaller figure standing next to him. The figure was the mirror image of the hero of the Glade, that is, if said mirror was broken and corrupted. His eyes burned in otherworldly yellow and both his features and attire seemed to be of a darker shade, than that of Rayman and just like his counterpart, his body parts were floating free in the air.

"I've placed all the pillars and symbols as you've asked." he reported, his voice not displaying much emotion.

"Good. Has anyone seen you?" he asked, turning towards his servant. He was the closest he could call to faithful and occasionally very useful as well.

"A fairy had noticed what I was doing. She never got to tell anyone though." the limbless stated, the harsh glow of his eyes leaving little to the imagination, as to what might have happened to said fairy. He knew his Master couldn't care less though, as long as he made sure his orders had been completed in the utmost secrecy.

"Perfect. Once the storm hits, we'll make our move." said the cloaked figure, gazing off into the distance once more. His face was hidden behind the shadow of his large hat, though his eyes were expressive enough.

"Are you sure this is the right time to strike? They might not do as you've planned and then-"

"And then what?" he snapped at his servant, glaring at the limbless. "Have you got a foolproof plan, for instance? Or just several back-up ideas, just in case?" he growled. He had always been easy to anger, but now, already tense from preparations he was even more volatile.

"No, my lord...I just..." the Rayman look-alike tried to save what was possible, but knew already that he had timed his question very badly.

"We cannot be sure they'll act as planned. No one can be. No amount of planning makes up for ingenuity, or just plain stupidity." he turned away once more, gazing towards the Fairy Council, the infernal structure that held the Heart of the World in its deepest chambers. "But this time, everything will go according to plan." he stated, firmly enough to make this shadowy limbless forget about most of his doubts.

He watched as the dark clouds slowly gathered around the Fairy Glade, prepared to give all those unlucky to be out in the open a good shower. He hadn't planned on there being a storm, but he was sure he could use it to his advantage, in some shape or form. He pulled out his binoculars again, scouting for his victims as his thoughts traveled upon their upcoming meeting.

_A long time has passed, since the last time we'd seen each other. I hardly think you'll remember me at all...but I promise you, I'll make this reunion the grandest you've ever seen. You and all your friends will greet me with eyes full of tears._


	3. Downpour

New chapter, with a little less of a delay, than the first. If you're still counting, you can see that while the others might have had some familiar features, Chapter 3 is almost completely new material. I'm trying to keep things flowing nicely, though it's the next arc, that will put me to the test, whether I'll drop into needless purple prose again, or not. If you knew the original, you know which one I'm talking about. If not...well...you'll get to see soon. XD Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 3: Downpour<strong>_

By the time the first few droplets of water had fallen upon the Glade, most have already retreated into the comfort of their homes. Children were ushered in everywhere, Teensies calmly gathered their equipment and retreated into one of their many-many hiding places. Even those who chose to stay outside for whatever reason, found themselves some kind of shelter from the storm.

Although it began with little more than a light drizzle, it didn't take long before the raindrops grew in number and force as well. A few minutes was all it needed to become enough of a reason not to even attempt going out for a while. Some worried that a few stray bolts of lightning might cause some damage, but while the sky was dark and thunderous, the old trees of the forest managed to avoid such a fate thus far.

Of course, as luck would have it, some would always end up stranded in the middle of all this. Animals, unable to get back straight to their nests, or a couple of fairies, who'd been far too caught up in mediation, to notice something as insignificant as buckets of water showering down upon them. Others simply didn't take enough heed to the warning signs, or in some rare cases, misread them altogether.

Salian watched with a sigh as it continued to pour with a look of mild annoyance on his face. Although he usually didn't mind rain too much, he preferred it much more when he saw it from the Council, or from his window. Sitting right under it, just waiting for it to end was not exactly his favorite pastime.

"I thought you said we would reach the Council before the first drop..." he remarked, turning towards the fairy next to him, a slight smirk in the corner of his mouth.

"One more word and I swear I'll kick you back out into the rain." she snapped back. Nonetheless, her ears stood low and her cheeks were still bright red with shame.

Although they did hurry towards the Council at first, they started going slower once she judged the rain to be far enough to take it easy. As it turned out, she still couldn't predict the weather quite all that well. The storm caught up with them little over halfway to the Council, forcing them to seek shelter right away. Her forest powers helped thicken and create a hole inside a bush for them to hide in, but considering she got them there in the first place, it didn't quite balance it out.

"I'm just saying. Besides, you'll probably get this from others, too." he mused, squeezing out the bit of water in his shirt. They've been in their shelter since the storm struck, but they did get a small load of it before Ly had finished up creating it. By now, they were perfectly shielded, albeit slightly soaked.

"Don't even remind me of that." Ly groaned in annoyance, pulling the wet strands of dark-blue hair from her eyes. While it was usually a good thing to have Betilla focus on her studies, the fairy would occasionally become a nightmarish teacher, whenever she showed remarkable stupidity to something. Messing up this badly was a definite trigger for that. "She'll hold it against me forever!"

"I could take the blame for it, you know." Salian spoke up, grinning slightly. It might have seemed strange for someone to enjoy getting inevitably punished, but as far as the fairy could guess, he wouldn't do it for free, of course. "I'll just say I distracted you with something. She might give me some extra work or something, but it's still better, than what she'd do to you."

True enough, but the fairy was still quite suspicious. "And what's the price of such a daring self-sacrifice?" she asked, raising a brow. Sure enough, the grin on his face grew, confirming her expectations.

"A kiss, maybe?" he offered and winked. Not that it was a bad thing to request, but the way he presented it just made Ly burst into a short giggle-fit. Being suave had never been Salian's forte. "Okay, okay, we'll discuss payment later." he quickly backpedaled, although the blush that appeared on his face was telltale about his embarrassment. "Stop laughing."

"I'm sorry..." she whimpered between chuckles and tried to calm herself down. It took a few seconds for her to finally stop and even then, her chest kept shaking a bit as she just barely managed to contain her amusement. "You're cute when you try to act like a charmer. It's just not working out for you too well." she explained to the severely blushing boy, all the while still trying to stifle her giggling.

Eventually though, the boy began to smile as well, chuckling along with her in due time. Despite the rain, they still found some way of entertaining each other. Sure, sometimes it was to their expense, but in the end, they always had a good laugh. It was just the way they had always been, all throughout these years.

"You know..." Salian spoke up again, once they both finished laughing. "I've been doing some thinking." he paused for a moment, expecting some kind of witty remark, but for once, the fairy seemed to hold herself back and just continued to smile and listen. "Well, Betilla said we should be done with most of our studies in the next two years."

"I know we could technically just go as we like, but I'd really hate to disappoint her this late and I'm pretty sure you feel the same way, too." she nodded slightly to his words, signaling she was following along. "I was wondering...and I've mentioned this to Rayman before...I'm thinking of leaving the Glade, once we're done. Not permanently, of course, just to go on a trip, see what the other regions have to offer."

"That's...a pretty good plan." Ly mused after a little while, looking quite surprised. With Rayman around him so much, she should have expected him to have such ambitions, but apparently she hadn't really imagined him to leave, at least not so soon. "Where do you plan on going?"

"You're going to laugh at me for this." the boy chuckled slightly in embarrassment. "I don't actually know. Whenever I have dreams...well, pleasant dreams, I often dream of certain places, such as the Blue Mountains. Rayman helped me identify most of them. I've no idea why, but I feel like I should go there first."

"But that's not the only thing I wanted to say!" he quickly added, remembering the main point why he brought this whole thing up. "Since Rayman's probably gonna go with me too, I wanted to ask if you would want to come with us as well."

The fairy was more than a bit surprised of the offer, somewhat humbled even. Sure, the thought of traveling had crossed her mind before, but going with the others on such a possibly adventurous journey was a much better incentive. She sighed however, her heart growing a bit heavy. Ly would have loved to go with them. She knew she would have enjoyed just about every second of it. It was because of this and from seeing the hopeful smile on Salian's face, that she felt especially lousy for having to break his hopes about such an excursion.

"I'd love to go...but I don't think I'll be able to." she admitted. She could see almost immediately as his mood saddened a bit. He was obviously hoping she'd say yes. "It's really not that I don't want to!" she assured quickly. She didn't want him feeling too bad about it. "It's just that I can't really go that far, for several reasons."

"Forest fairies like me are very closely attuned to nature. This is both a blessing and a curse though, as it takes us a while to get used to new places. I also cannot stray too far...my body simply can't bear with larger temperature changes the way Rayman copes with them." the fairy explained. "And also...I have no idea what Betilla plans for me to do in two years' time." she added. Although the elder fairy hadn't revealed anything yet, Ly was sure her studies or obligations would not end so soon.

"...alright. Well...at least I tried." he sighed, managing to put on a smile for her. He was, of course, disappointed that she wouldn't come with them, but knew she had valid reasons for that. He just wished those reasons wouldn't exist at all. "Won't you get bored though...while we're gone I mean?" he asked, trying to steer the conversation back to a lighter tone, however difficult it seemed now.

Ly smiled and suddenly leaned closer to the boy, planting a little kiss on his cheek, her tail swaying from side to side. He was always so concerned for her and Rayman, it was nothing short of cute. She started giggling again as his face turned blood-red once more, a look of shock and delight stuck on his face. So much for the sadness.

"I can still accompany you to the edges of this region, you know."she reminded him, giving the boy a ray of hope to accompany the fierce blush.. "Maybe even through Band Land."

"That would be great! Rayman told me so much about that place, I'm sure you'd love it!" he exclaimed, a little louder even than he'd intended, making her chuckle again. He could get very disoriented, when flustered.

"I'm sure I would." she giggled, all the while gently squeezing the water out of her furry tail. Despite the toll it might take on her body and the obvious clashes with her studies and advancement as a fairy, she yearned to see what existed beyond these woods she knew all too well by now. "Besides, even Betilla would have to agree than a change of atmosphere might—Salian? Sal,what's wrong?"

The fairy knelt up and leaned closer, having noticed a very startling change in the boy. In the span of a few moments, his eyes widened and all color faded from his face. His expression was one of pure horror, yet she could sense, nor see nothing that could have possibly frightened him so badly. She reached out and place two of her fingers upon his neck, able to feel his pulse quicken rapidly as well. Something startled him so badly, it was almost like he'd gotten some kind of seizure.

"Sal? Sal, answer me, please!" she called a bit louder, gently shaking him by the shoulders.

His stupor only seemed to have lasted so long as once she got louder, he flinched and snapped out of it. He immediately started downright panting, as if he'd been running for the past couple of minutes. Ly knew he wasn't playing around. They've played countless jokes upon each other, but never the kind that would worry the other this badly.

"Ly..." he spoke up suddenly, his voice hoarse. "We-we need to get out of here..." he muttered, trying to stand up right away, only to lose his balance right away and slump back. He felt dizzy and disoriented, for reasons he could not tell.

"Why? Salian, what's going on? What happened to you?" she asked, rather worried for him. She'd never seen him act this erratically and counting the fact he did attempt to play hero during the Pirate Invasion as well, that was saying a lot.

"I can't..." he mumbled, still very visibly dazed by whatever had come over him. She was only holding onto his shoulders and she could still feel him tremble. "We have to hurry—" he tried to stand up again, only to be pulled back by the older fairy this time.

"No." she stated firmly, scowling at him. "You're not going anywhere like this, Salian." she didn't have to hold onto him too firmly, as he seemed to be much rather under a temporary shock, rather than a violent panic attack. "Sal, please tell me what just happened." she eased her voice into a soothing tone, trying to comfort him into talking. "What's wrong?"

"I—I don't know..." he whimpered finally, even the tone of his voice startling the forest fairy. "I felt—I don't know, something...something's wrong—" he tried to explain it as best as he could, but there were no words he knew of, that could describe the abject horror he'd felt, moments ago. "Ly, I don't know what's going on, but there's something just...seriously wrong, something amiss and I don't know what it is and—"

The fairy didn't let him finish, lest he'd fall back into whatever brief stun had claimed him. She briefly enveloped him in a tight embrace, trying her best to ease his nerves. "It's okay, that's all I needed to hear. Let's go, whatever it is you've felt, we'll be safe in the Fairy Council." she assured him, squeezing his arm to put some spirit back into him.

Truth to be told, she had no idea whether the Council would truly provide them an adequate shelter. She wasn't even fully sure there was anything they needed to flee from. What mattered to her though, was that something had awoken inside Salian, by the looks of it. He's never suffered an illness like this and as she couldn't sense anything herself, there was a possibility that some semblance of whatever power might have been slumbering in him, had finally shown itself.

* * *

><p>"I wish it'd stop."<p>

"Rayman, it only started raining a couple of minutes ago. Give it some time."

"It was just a suggestion!" the limbless huffed, spinning the large leaf above his head, as the Glute continued to walk.

Although they rain had indeed caught up with them, as Globox had expected, Rayman came up with the perfect method of getting the least wet. He was perched on his large friend's back, holding a rather sizable and thick leaf, shielding them both. He was always full of ideas and this was apparently no exception, although the rain would have only bothered him, as Glutes loved water.

This was a very good method of keeping both of them relatively dry for the most part, even if not the easiest to go with. Rayman kept swaying from side to side from Globox's waddling steps, but since his friend was careful enough to hold onto his feet, he was safe, for the most part.

"Are you going to walk back home right away, once we get to the Council?" he asked after a short while, glancing downwards.

"Probably. The kids might get a little fussy, if I'm not back home. They're still young, heavier storms scare them." the Glute mused, ducking a bit to avoid a branch hitting Rayman face-first. He could see a couple more on the way though and made note to avoid them as well.

"Aren't you afraid of them too—OW!" Rayman let out short cry of pain, soon followed by the sounds of him spitting something rather hurriedly.

"Sorry, I missed that one." Globox called in mock-sorry, grinning slightly as the limbless spat out the few remaining leaf-shards the branch had left in his mouth.

"Yeah, right." his friend grumbled, but it did little to quell his good mood. Playing tricks and jokes on each other was just part of why he liked being around the Glute.

While he wasn't exactly the brightest, nor the most fearless material ever, he had more than enough to go by and was a genuinely caring person, who could pull off some surprisingly brave stunts, when the situation demanded it so. To this day, Rayman never forgot how he willingly let himself be captured by the Pirates, just to deliver him that one Silver Lum, that let them escape and with that, change the outcome of the invasion.

"How's your big plan coming along, by the way?" the Glute asked suddenly, shattering his thoughts.

"What...oh, that!" he chuckled, recalling what he'd mentioned to him about it so far. "I think it'll work out pretty well! I still know most of the old routes I had taken before and we could probably go on for a whole season even, if he can bear with that."

Globox smiled to that, happily listening to his friend explaining his planned trip to him. While he didn't really wish to leave the Glade, having had enough of traveling for a lifetime during the Black Lum incident, he knew the others would enjoy it. Rayman was rather experienced in finding his way by now, even without the heightened senses fairies were so proud of. Sure, they could feel and anticipate a lot of things, but the Glute was fairly certain his friend would easily survive better in the wilderness, than some of them.

"The weakest link right now is Ly. I still need to find a way to convince her to come along." Rayman continued, lowering the leaf a little, as his hand was getting tired. "She can play hard to get so well sometimes." he concluded, even though he knew very well she had more or less valid reasons for staying.

"Aw, I think that sounds like a challenge!" Globox chuckled, the laughter rippling through his large body and making the limbless wobble even more. "Maybe you should just bust out some of those charming moves Murfy's been telling you about. That would surely get her running...though probably in the opposite direction."

Rayman's brows lowered in annoyance, his hand 'accidentally' tipping forwards, letting some of the accumulated water shower the Glute. He seemed to have been preparing from this though and just opened his large mouth, gobbling up the rain-water in a heartbeat. He licked his mouth and let out a slight burp to the sudden drink, rather amused.

"Thanks, I was getting thirsty!" he called, furthering his annoyance.

"Guess who's not getting Plum Juice for his birthday..." Rayman retorted in a rather childish manner. "I'll try and ask – just _ask_ – her, but I know she has a lot on her mind right now. I don't expect a decent answer for the next few months." he admitted. Sure, he might have gotten frustrated with Globox from time to time, but any anger he'd ever had for his friends, always disappeared in under a few seconds.

Then again, the anger was soon followed by the disappearance of stable ground next. Rayman suddenly found himself flying in the air very gracefully, before landing back on Globox's soft back, who had since taken up sleeping in the middle of the road, apparently. He quickly rolled off his friend and hopped down next to him, leaning down a little.

"Are you okay?" he asked, not too concerned, just making sure. Glutes were usually at least as big and blubbery as Globox, which incidentally gave them a very effective resistance to many injuries.

"I...think so?" he asked back, looking up at Rayman again. "I fell." he stated, only to correct himself upon seeing the look the limbless was giving him. "I must have tripped over something." he added, making his situation perhaps a tad bit less hilarious.

"Yep, seems like it." his friend mused, walking to the other side of Globox, to better see what might have caught his foot for a moment. "It's just a stick!" he chuckled. Sure, he could be a klutz, but a simple piece of wood was really clumsy, even for him. "You should look where you're—"

"I know, I'll be careful." the Glute mused, easing himself up into a sit. Rayman no longer shielded him from the rain, but he didn't mind it too much, as the feel of rain was quite refreshing to his skin. "Rayman?" he called out, a but surprised how he had fallen silent all of a sudden.

Once he turned around though, he was met with one of the most serious of expression the limbless had ever worn in the past few years. He was holding up the stick Globox had tripped in, holding the dull tip close to his face. The Glute couldn't understand what was so interesting to him about a simple stick, until he saw something running down on the piece of wood, all the way to the limbless' gloves.

"I—Is that..?"

"Blood." Rayman confirmed, watching as the crimson liquid kept sliding down onto his fist, diluted by the rain. It seemed to have freshly coated the stick at least an inch and a half thick, suggesting something had indeed been stabbed with it.

Without waiting a single moment, Rayman thrust both of his hands into the very thick bush from where this stick might have been hiding under, hoping to Polokus he was wrong and the red liquid had just been the juices of a fruit, even though the smell of it was all too obvious. He continued searching nonetheless, his heart leaping into his non-existent throat, as his fingers touched skin.

"You might not want to look right now..." he sighed, parting the bushes enough so he could pull relatively easier.

It didn't take much, the body sliding almost effortlessly, despite the apparent dead weight of it. The limbless swallowed hard as he revealed the body of a young fairy, possibly a junior to Ly even. Her face was still one of anguish and horror, her hands stuck in a slightly clawing fashion, indicating she didn't go down without a fight. It didn't seem to have mattered though, in the end.

She was a pretty young thing, with her blue-eyes and colorful, delicate wings. A light fairy, he guessed. Her bluish-white robes were stained with her blood, several holes punctured in the soft material, where she'd been stabbed. Whoever had attacked her, had a hard time fighting her down properly at first, as evidenced by the several punctures to her chest, some deeper than the rest. It was obvious she'd died slowly and possibly very painfully.

Rayman couldn't stand to look at hurt for much longer, feeling sick to his stomach. He took the leaf they'd been using and place it over her, securing it with a few larger pebbles on all sides. He knew he couldn't have heard about this. He knew there was no way for him to expect such a thing to happen. He knew it wasn't his fault, yet deep inside of him, he felt disappointment and anger, both towards whoever might have done this and himself.

He glanced aside, squinting his eyes a bit to see through the rain. He highly doubted her killer was still nearby, but there was always a chance. Globox wisely had his back to the whole scene since the start, only to turn back now. He didn't check what was under the leaf, but going by Rayman's expression, he had a good idea of what it might have been.

All of a sudden, the limbless had gone back on his feet again, the rain falling heavily upon him, even deflating his hair a bit. He seemed determined and borderline vengeful, with a deep sense of resolve showing itself quite quickly as well. He'd seen something, a lead that would help him bring the fairy's murderer to justice.

"Stay here and keep your eyes open, Globox." he called, bracing himself. "I'll be right back." he promised, before taking off into the deeper parts of the forest.

He ran straight through even the thickest of trees and bushes, feeling a rapid surge of adrenaline, as he kept running. He was akin to a hunting dog, having caught a scent, though the one in this case, belonged to someone exceptionally similar to him. Others might have discarded this idea, especially one as vague that was going on in his head right now, but if he was truly right, then that meant dire things for the whole Fairy Glade.

He honestly hoped that dark, violet scarf he'd seen fly by belonged to someone far less infamous, than whom he suspected.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you can't feel anything now?" she asked, placing a hand upon his warm forehead.<p>

"No, I—I don't know, I'm not sure..." he muttered, trying to regain his focus. He blinked a couple of times and shook his head slightly, hoping to stir himself back into shape.

The fairy still looked concerned for him nonetheless, feeling his temperature for a few more moments, before pulling her hand back. He was still slightly disoriented from whatever shock had jolted through him, unable to calm down even now. She couldn't feel a fever, further proving to her that whatever happened to him was something special, regardless the negative consequences. The rain was still pouring heavily all around them, the tree they were standing under providing a temporary shield, before they'd continue towards the Council.

"You seem to be alright." she concluded. "Whatever it was, it hadn't left a mark. Are you sure you hadn't felt anything else? Even the slightest?"

The boy closed his eyes and eased his breathing, trying to think back to what exactly happened. He remembered remarkably little though. Fear, terror, horror, all varieties of dread washed over him at once, but he simply wasn't capable of comprehending what it was he'd feared. Even the slightest of hints were beyond vague.

"I don't remember..." he groaned in frustration, again worrying the fairy. "I—there was something...something cold and I don't know, dangerous, maybe? Not even that, just cold and obscure. It was like I was looking down into a well. I saw something horrible, but I just...couldn't take my eyes off it." he was breaking into cold sweat again, he could feel it. "And then it...it looked back at me and I—"

"Sh, it's okay, you can stop now." she called softly, quickly bringing him back into reality. "Listen...I know you will hate me for this, but once we get back to the Council, you really need to see the Elders about this." she said, knowing he would be against it.

"I...really don't want to." he sighed, rubbing his temples. "They...you don't even want to know how deeply they can get into your head. I'm not sure I want to see what's at the bottom."

"I know Salian, I'd say the same if I were you." she assured, glancing up for a moment. The storm wasn't getting better anytime soon. They had to get moving again soon. "But your nightmares...and now this...I know it must be terrifying, but you need to somehow get all this under control, otherwise it might just wreck your mind."

"Alright." he said after a bit of a pause. "I'll see the Elders about this."

Ly smiled at him and rubbed his shoulders slightly, reassuring her friend. "There's no shame in being afraid of the darkness in your dreams. You just need to cast light upon it and it'll disperse."

Salian sighed once more and looked into her eyes finally, managing to smile back at the fairy. Her ears stood up slightly upon seeing his mood lightening, her tail curling up slightly. Ly had always been protective of both him and Rayman, being slightly older than either of them. She was kind, but firm to them when needed, bubbly and playful in any other situation. He liked and respected her, regarding the beautiful fairy one of his closest friends.

He flinched right away as the fairy cried out slightly all of a sudden, letting go of him and grasping her upper arm. He could see a little trickle of blood running down her arm already and he was about to ask what had happened, when both of them ended up speechless. The tree they've been hiding under only cast a slight shadow on the ground, but neither of them were able to miss seeing a small, black spire melting back into it, leaving no sign it had ever existed.

The two gazed at the writhing shadow with shock and disbelief, as even though the winds of the storm were indeed blowing at the tree, it hardly move enough to cause such a movement of shadows. It seemed chaotic and threatening, as if they were standing in the maw of some unearthly monster, surrounded by vicious fangs.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Ly and Salian turned in the direction of the slightly raspy voice, a chill running down their spines. The figure was only a couple of feet away, gazing at them with glowing yellow eyes, clad in a dark-blue cloak and a matching large hat, hiding his features. The darkness danced around his feet as if they were drawn to him, moving just as erratically as the shadow they were standing in right now. It didn't take long for them to discern the identity of the person before them.

They'd heard many stories about him and his exploits, but never expected to actually see him in person. Ly grasped her wound a little tighter, a knot growing in her stomach. She'd been in dangerous situations before, but right now, she felt surprisingly unarmed, even with her evolved powers at her disposal. Salian had indeed sensed something wrong, but neither of them would ever have thought this source of danger would be Rayman's oldest and possibly most fearsome enemy.


	4. Thunderstruck

Not quite satisfied with this chapter, especially near the end. Still, I'm getting close to the end of the actual 'rewrite'portion, so by all means, it should get even better from this point on. :D You'll probably be surprised where the next chapter will pick up though, particularly if you had read the original version. In any case, enjoy and review, if possible! ^^_**  
><strong>_

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><p><em><strong>Thunderstruck<strong>_

A sphere of energy is something most fairies learn fairly early on in their studies. It had always been their most basic defensive spell and served them nicely throughout their lives most of which would be spent without any kind of conflict that might actually require them to use this. As the Pirate Invasion had proven though, it was never a bad thing to prepare, thus the importance of this lesson had grown multitudes these past years.

There was nothing difficult in learning it, either. It required only the most simplest of magical talents and was easy to conjure up. All it needed was for one to have both palms facing each other, concentrate on having their own internal energy gather in the space between them and once enough had accumulated, form it into a sphere shape. Still, some always had a harder time learning things, than others.

"I still can't do this!" the fairy cried, scowling as the tiny little ball of energy between her palms disappeared in a brief flash.

Betilla turned her head slightly and saw one of her younger students pout and cross her arms, stomping the ground in annoyance. She could tell she was much rather just annoyed, than angry, but to some it was still a slightly amusing sight. They put considerable effort into not giggling her off for it and instead concentrated on their own practices, with varying degrees of success.

"Is everything alright?" she called, loud enough for the fairy to hear her. Leaving the rest of the class to practice on their own, she walked over to the young fairy.

She couldn't have been more than a decade old, Betilla guessed, seeing how her clothes were still very much the children variety of dresses. Her pointy ears twitched as the Elder fairy looked down upon her, their eyes meeting. Even without her saying anything, the little one seemed to lose her stubbornness and looked somewhat flustered instead. Betilla was a very respected fairy and had always been great at teaching her juniors as well. Being in the center of her attention was something she wasn't quite used to.

"It's too hard." she spoke up finally, unable to hold back the complaint. "Can't I try something easier?"

Betilla couldn't help, but smile at the innocent request. She shook her head though, shattering the little one's hopes.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that." she said, making her sigh in annoyance again. "However, once you learn this, I'll teach you something neat. Is it a deal, Amira?"

The fairy seemed somewhat surprised Betilla remembered her name so well, quickly growing shy from the situation. Her ears corresponded to her feelings as well, lowering slightly.

"I'd like that..." she ventured, her cute and embarrassed voice making a few older fairies gush and giggle nearby.

"Alright then. Let me help you." the Elder chuckled and crouched down, until she was in eye-level with Amira. "Here, hold your hands like this." she said, adjusting her little hands, until the palms faced each other before her chest. This was the easiest way to learn this spell.

"Now...try to imagine a stream of magic inside you. Close your eyes, if it works better that way." she began, only to see as the fairy was quick to follow her advice and closed her eyes. "There. Now, imagine that stream traveling through your arms, in parallel to each other, both as strong as the other." she could see the concentration on Amira's face, which made her smile all the more. "Imagine them leaving your palms and the ends of them coiling around each other. Not colliding, coiling, like when you roll up a thread." she added, knowing some children always overdid it and ended up stinging themselves.

Betilla smiled as she saw a slight glow beginning to appear, only to wince as something far different came over her. She could only describe it as a prod to her mind, a forceful shove no fairy would have ever dared to do. While fairies did have a talent for telepathy, they were always very careful of each others' privacy and never tried to be aggressive, when trying to communicate.

She let out a short sigh and watched Amira's energy sphere grow and glow, raw power sizzling inside of it. While the child did have some problems with it, she seemed to have gotten the hang of it now.

"Very nice work, Amira!" she called, making her flinch and lose her control over the sphere. Just as before, it disappeared in a flash, though much brighter than before. "That's exactly how you do it. Perform this a couple more times and you'll do just fine on the test as well."

"Thank you, Betilla!" the little one exclaimed excitedly, watching as the fairy got up again.

"Keep up the good work everyone!" she called out, before glancing at one of the older fairies. With just a slight mental nudge, she asked her to take over her place for now, which she went to do immediately, while the Elder retreated to her quarters.

It didn't take long for her to reach her destination and once she'd passed through the nicely carved wooden door, she was back in her own little den. While the Teensies would have gladly built an entire mansion for her, if that had been her request, she comfortable for the most part in her relatively humble Council room. She did have some magic artifacts stored and her decoration was also far from crude, but for an Elder, this was still very humble.

The previous smile on her face had turned into a slight scowl by now, especially as her head kept throbbing slightly from the earlier mental call. She went over to her rather large book collection, picking a few select ones off the shelves. Most of them dealt with the lore of their world, as that was the next lesson she was supposed to hold.

_Betilla..._

"Shut it." she spoke up. Although mental communication would have been preferable, spoken word carried much more of an effect right now. "If you didn't have the decency not to make my head explode, at least have the patience to wait until I finish.

She received no answer, leading her to believe he had actually listened to her, for once. Most would have never even dreamed of getting such a privilege and yet it seemed like she hardly even cared for it at all. By now, she much rather considered it an annoying feature she had to deal with from time to time. Still, very few could say they had been in direct contact with Polokus, the dream-god himself.

Her relationship with her creator had been strained for quite a few centuries now. Many things had happened and many things were said to each other, culminating in the Elder fairy harboring a slight distaste towards the deity of the world. She never showed this to the rest of her sisters, as she was much more considerate than that, but did not approach him with the same reverence most harbored for the god.

Much to her surprise though, he actually waited until she'd picked out all the books she intended to use. Usually, he was as impatient as any young fairy, not about to wait for his turn. Some may have called this deserved arrogance, but Betilla still perceived it as just plain rude. Then again, she had a different view of him to begin with.

_He has returned._

"Please, leave the dramatic revelation at the doorstep." the Elder sighed, looking through the contents of one of the books, making sure it had the right parts she needed. "Who is this enigmatic 'he'?"

_The nightmare who calls himself Mr. Dark._

Betilla immediately spun around, realizing quickly that this gesture meant little. The god was omnipresent, but the news startled her enough that she almost assumed he was behind her. All thoughts of the upcoming lessons left her mind, replaced with shock and anger. They had always anticipated his eventual return, but certainly not this soon.

"Where is he? Has he returned to his old base?" she asked, already forming several plans. Despite her slight disdain for Polokus, such matters required cooperation.

_He's in the Glade right now. He has cornered both of your students._

He didn't need to clarify for her to know which two he had meant. She felt a chill run down her spine, as she pictured the creature of shadows facing off against her pupils, both of them far too inexperienced yet to fight him off without help. She didn't dare imagine what might happen if they did try to battle him

"An extremely bold move...I don't like this." she muttered, dropping her books in a pile.

_What are you planning?_

"Saving them, of course. I know your influence doesn't reach him, but I won't let them be harmed by him."

She wasted no time and headed straight out the door and towards the main entrance. She found herself running soon enough, not even bothering to inform anyone of her leave. While some backup might have not been a bad idea, Betilla didn't wish to endanger anyone else, but herself. She'd underestimated the mage back when they first clashed; a mistake she wasn't about to make again.

_Betilla...perhaps it's time. If they clash, there's a chance-_

"No." she downright growled, her face reddening in anger. "We've discussed this...you allowed me to do it my way...and I say he's not ready yet." she said, the god's presence lessening somewhat. She could tell he was somewhat taken aback by how adamant she was about this issue. Regardless his own thoughts on the matter, she knew Polokus well enough to know he wouldn't get into another long-winded argument with her.

_...hurry. Whatever his plans are, he must be stopped._

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for Ly to assess their current situation, though the results did not brighten her mood at all. Before them stood Mr. Dark, the first of the many foes Rayman had bested over the years, although he never did manage to bring an end to their confrontation. The mage had merely escaped, rather than ending up destroyed, like the Pirates had been, years later. No one had seen him for several years now, but neither could anyone say for sure that he wouldn't return, much less at such an inconvenient time.<p>

She continued to apply pressure to her cut, hoping the bleeding would stop soon enough. The attack from the shadows was most unexpected, as she had little to no knowledge how such magic might function. She remembered Betilla having mentioned before, that Dark's form of spellcasting was wholly unique. The fairy found herself agreeing to that, her mind racing to find a solution. She'd fought Pirates before, but at least she figured out fairly quickly how to disable them. With him, she had no idea.

By the looks of it though, he did not seem to have taken a hostile stance, other than the surprise attack on her arm. Of course, she was fairly sure he was just waiting, but as for what, she couldn't guess. She glanced at Salian, only to see a similar expression on his face, as in his previous catatonia; the look of someone who had seen something that is just beyond the scope of what he can accept to exist. He seemed to be face to face with something deeply wrong, though what exactly, she couldn't tell.

"What do you want from us?" she spoke up finally, hoping her anxiety hadn't mixed into her voice. Other than general bloodlust, she couldn't think of any plausible reason for him to attack them, if he'd dared to come to the Fairy Glade in the first place. Then, a few moments later, it dawned upon her. "You want to draw Rayman out, don't you?" she asked, scowling at the cloaked mage.

"Perhaps." Dark replied, with the very shadow of amusement in his voice. She knew from Betilla that he didn't think very highly of her species as a whole. "Not that I'll tell you, anyway. Let's just say both of you will do a small service for me."

"And what if we refuse?" she glanced aside, only to see Salian take a step forward, partially shielding her from the mage's gaze. Whatever had shaken off whatever came over him and instead glared at Dark in a way she'd never seen of him. A thunder roared through the sky, giving the situation an ominous backdrop.

"I'm not giving you a choice in the matter." Mr. Dark remarked, rather nonchalantly. He seemed confident in his superiority, for now. "You will do as you're told. If not, I can always find someone else and I'll just leave your corpses at Betilla's doorstep."

The glow in his yellow eyes only made the threat even more clear. Ly could tell that he was exactly the kind of creature who'd actually go through with that, however unsightly it might be. He wasn't stupid, not by a long-shot. Her magic relied on concentration, but it also took a toll on her body, regardless the power of the spell. She knew a method of teleporting themselves to safe, but knew even so much as attempting that would make her wound bleed even more.

"Ly, get out of here." Salian didn't turn back to face her, but merely muttered the words, as if he wasn't sure himself. She knew he would indeed be as reckless as to stand against the mage, to protect her. Being with Rayman for so long had left a substantial mark on his personality. Still, as valiant as it may have been, she was not about to allow him to do something this stupid.

"I'm not leaving you to die here." she stated firmly, stepping to his side. She could see the boy was worried, but slightly reassured even that he wouldn't have to face whatever might come alone.

"Amusing." Dark spoke up once more, having heard every word. "I've hardly even done anything and already, both of you are competing to be the sacrifice...how touching. Sadly, I have little time for these games." he flicked his hand ever so slightly, the shadows under them stirring and rising to his command, like before. They were still formless for the most part, but judging by the way the one before cut her, they could very well kill them.

"Now, will you do as I say, or will I have to make you?" he asked, the burning yellow glow of his eyes eagerly awaiting their answer.

All of them were suddenly drawn to a noise in a large bush nearby. It trembled violently several times, before parts of it simply burst into flames, two figures just about exploding from inside of it. The strawberry-blonde hair and purple shirt quickly gave away one of them, but the other currently wrestling the first to get ground, was unknown to them.

It was a limbless, just like Rayman. Rather yet, whoever this was, he seemed almost exactly like the hero, save for a couple of differences, mainly in colors. This one had a pale, almost gray complexion, his yellow eyes glaring at his apparently twin, or counterpart. Mr. Dark seemed slightly less surprised than they were, though was visibly annoyed by the distraction.

"I thought you were dead!" Rayman growled, holding his opponent's fists, all the while trying to free himself from under him.

"And I hoped you were!" the other spat back at him. Even their voices were very similar, though Ly could have sworn the other had a slightly lower pitch. The limbless' double desperately tried to free his hands, intent on beating the hero's face into a pulp.

"I'm...awfully sorry...to disappoint." the limbless decided not to waste any more time and rather than pushing them away any longer, he suddenly pulled on the fists, unsettling his darkened double.

He lost his balance and fell towards Rayman, giving him enough space to move his feet right under him and once he was close enough, launched the limbless over his head with a single shove of both feet. He landed rather unceremoniously on the ground, rolling up in the dirt for a moment, before he spun back to his feet, glaring at the hero.

"I'll take great pleasure in eviscerating you." he spat, a strange an curiously deep glow emanating from his fists. He seemed to wield a similar power to Dark's, but on a much different scale, or rather a completely different aspect of it.

"Seems like you've learned a lot of words since we've last met." Rayman remarked, staying on alert as he edged closer to the others. "Last time you could do little more than just follow me."

"I've been reborn since." the clone hissed, his yellow eyes burning in pure hatred. Ly remembered Rayman having mentioned this creature, but never imagined it would have harbored such a disdain for his original. "Stronger and better. I'm more than capable of taking you out now."

"Only thing I've seen is that you've gained a thirst for blood." the limbless hero shouted over his gloat, the memory of the corpse still vivid. "I can't imagine what that fairy had done to deserve such a death, but you'll pay for it, both of you will." he stated, his own hands glowing as well.

The energy inside the limbless had grown multitudes since he absorbed the first Silver Lum Ly had created for him. To this day, she had little to no clue where she managed to pull power from to do that, but it bestowed Rayman with several new abilities, all of which helped them greatly in pushing back the invading Pirates, years ago. One of them was the signature move of fairies, namely the creation of energy spheres which until Rayman, no other creature could replicate.

"I'd love to test that threat of yours." Dark spoke up, his voice strangely absent of emotions. Either he had little to no feelings about the limbless dropping in, or he was just hiding them well. "However, I have better things to do. Stand down, Rayman." he ordered, his yellow eyes glowing brightly.

The limbless merely took a step forward, standing right before his friends, shielding them from even the sight of the mage. There was not even a split second of hesitation, no thinking about what chances he had. He didn't need, nor wished to consider anything of the sorts, as to him, the situation was blatantly simple. Mr. Dark threatened his friends and his home. That was all he needed.

"Make me." he mocked, raising his fists again.

Dark's minion lost his temper and sprung to the challenge right away, pulling his fist back for a powerful punch. Rayman foresaw this and instead of waiting for it, met the assault with a rush of his own. Rather than wind up for a single attack, he merely started repeatedly punching his double in the chest several times, even before he could have landed a single hit on him.

Both Salian and Ly made sure to stay out of the fight as much as possible, knowing they couldn't do much as of right now and would only hinder their friend. The fairy hissed a bit in pain, but finally summoned her abilities, hoping to at least partially heal her wound, just enough so that it wouldn't bother her as much, if she tried to use magic. Something told her their troubles were far from over and judging from the fact that Mr. Dark hadn't intervened yet, she might have just been right.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to visualize the wound closing up. The more power she poured into healing herself though, the more light-headed she had started to feel, even this little use of magic making her dizzy. She wasn't used to the sight of her own blood in such magnitudes. However, it seemed to have worked. The cut had begun to glow and even steam a little as her body entered a short-lasting state of accelerated healing.

The spell put quite a bit of strain upon her though, chipping away at her endurance. Her head clouded up and she almost lost her footing for a moment, finding support in Salian as he kept the fairy steady. She flashed him a brief smile, collecting herself enough to stand on her own again, the fog clearing from her mind soon enough.

Rayman stumbled back slightly, dazed by his counterpart's punch. While his initial attack worked well, the shadow-clone quickly got his act together and retaliated. The limbless hero raised his fists again, glaring at the other one while he smirked at him. He had to admit, he had underestimated Dark Rayman. He had to realize the clone could do far more damage by now, than just follow him around.

Mr. Dark continued to observe the fight, watching as his minion and Rayman kept trading punches, neither able to do really substantial damage to the other. His passive spectator status eventually grew quite suspicious to Ly. She was sure there was something going on, the shadow mage's reputation suggesting that as well. Whatever it was, she didn't wish to see his plans come to fruition.

The fairy closed her eyes for a moment and let her senses take in their surroundings. She couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary, the rain muffling all sounds anyway, but something still felt off. Her eyes sprung open a moment later, as she picked up something nearby. Fairies had always been the most susceptible to sensing magic, of which she felt an especially large amount of right now.

She raised her hand and released some of her energy in a stream of magic force, letting it spread in thin line before them. She felt herself tremble the closer it got to the place pinpointed earlier, until the first spark reached its destination. It reacted immediately and violently to her intrusion, shocking both the fairy and Salian, who'd been wondering what she had been doing.

The two spells collided in a small flash, followed immediately by a sickening crackling sound. Runes appeared in the ground, etched into the dirt and burning from the invasive magic. It didn't take long for it to overpower the other, shifting back into obscurity. By that time however, Dark had also realized what she had done, the yellow in his eyes glinting dangerously. She knew next to nothing about runes, especially ones this complex, but had enough common sense to assume they weren't made by fairies, nor Teensies.

"Rayman, we need to get out-" she began, only to sense another source of energy nearby, growing quickly.

Without even checking, she grasped Salian and dropped herself to the ground with him in tow. She felt an enormous heat travel along her side, though it passed by relatively quickly. She looked up and sure enough, the bushes not far behind were now little more than a pile of ashes. Even the bark of the tree above them was singed.

"I should have just sliced your head off right away." Mr. Dark growled, flames dancing in his hand.

The limbless heard the call though and opted to finish his fight. Just as the shadow-clone would have let loose another barrage of punches, Rayman pulled both his hands back, calling upon one of the many abilities he had been bestowed over the years. An orb of light grew in his joined palms, energy swirling inside of it. Before Dark Rayman could have so much as prepared himself, he threw it straight before the limbless' feet.

While the sphere was only a mild one, unable to cause too much damage, it was more than enough to create a small explosion almost right before Dark Rayman, making the shadow stumble slightly. The other one didn't expect such an attack, the shock leaving him defenseless for that one moment the limbless needed to make his move.

Without giving him any time to collect himself, he sprung forwards, changing his attack style entirely. Instead of relying on his fists anymore, he jumped towards the wobbling limbless and in mid-fall, allowed him to have a taste of his yellow boot. The shadow-clone grunted in pain and was promptly stomped into the ground a moment later. Rayman didn't stick around though and sprung off the face of his copy right away, though also making his head sink deeper into the ground for a moment, leaving him dazed and disoriented.

"You leave them alone!" he growled at Dark, letting loose a pair of energy spheres, once he landed back on his feet.

The mage's reflexes hadn't dulled though, as he immediately raised a wall of shadows before himself. The spheres exploded against the mass of swirling darkness, causing no harm to him, albeit allowing him judge just how powerful his enemy seemed to have gotten over the years. Rayman's growth in strength and abilities was startling, but nothing insurmountable.

"I would have preferred getting rid of you first, so I'll just have to make the most of it." the mage called from behind the wall, his eyes glowing brightly again, unseen by them.

Ly flinched as she felt a rather large spike of magic coming from the runes she had uncovered not long ago. She glanced at Rayman after Salian helped her back to her feet, her worry quite obvious. Though the runes weren't visible anymore, she felt them grow in power every second. Rayman's double had begun to stir again as well, further worsening their situation.

"We need to go, right now!" Salian called, surprising both of them.

Ly found him pale once again with look of startled fear on his face. It wasn't just the kind of wrong feeling he had before. He couldn't even see the runes, yet somehow their very energy seemed to bother him to no end. There was a familiar force buzzing within them. He could feel something about them; something that had the potential to threaten them even more, than whatever Mr. Dark had planned out.

Almost in a blind panic, he took a step forwards to leave the circle, his heart beating in his throat. As his hand would have went past the border though, he felt a surge of energy shocking it. He cried out in pain and pulled his hand back, the excess energy making it twitch slightly. He gazed at the invisible magic field surrounding them, his nerves on the edge of breaking.

"Sal, stop!" Ly cried and pulled him back, before he could have attempted it again. She wasn't sure what had come over him again, but it seemed to have overpowered the natural instinct to keep oneself from harm.

Rayman scowled and reached out, the field shocking him just the same. He hissed, but it didn't bother him overly much. He knew it'd only get stronger if he tried to break through it though and was sure his energy spheres would cause more harm, than good. If his guess was right, it just would have fried all three of them.

Once he had lowered his own shield, Dark raised his hands, both glinting in an otherworldly light, his eyes glowing yellow alongside them. The runes on the ground began to brighten and burn even more, worsening Salian's condition as well. He broke free from Ly's hold, slapping his hands against the field of magic the runes were generating. Something deep inside him urged him on to run as far away as possible.

The fairy and the limbless reacted quickly and tried to pull him back, only the find the boy stubbornly clinging to it, his hands beginning to twitch and tremble unnaturally. He cried out in pain again, just about launched backwards from a shock and the pull from his hands, almost knocking him unconscious. He fell flat on the ground, his muscles still spasming. Rayman finally understood part of his worry though, as he felt a familiar tingle run over his body; the sensation of teleporting. He had a rather firm clue on what these runes did, now.

Ly had begun to feel it as well, her ears twitching as her stomach was already in knots, as usual. She tried calling out for someone, but either no one was around, or the field inhibited all inside noises as well. The runes were burning bright enough to become bothersome, coating the area around them and even the falling raindrops in bright red. She made a meager attempt at rupturing one of the runes with her own powers, but could do nothing due to their high cohesion.

"Wherever we land, keep an eye on him and I'll make sure to get us back safely." Rayman said, stepping before the two. He didn't dare be even the least optimistic about wherever they might appear.

She grudgingly nodded, pulling Salian into her lap slightly, trying to calm him down. She was rather worried for him by now. He was never known to suffer from panic attacks, making the recent few all the more unsettling. Her eyes widened as a new feeling coursed through her though; a rather familiar one at that. She had little time to elaborate on them however, as the runes lit up brightly once more.

The next few moments were more or less a blur for everyone involved. Before the forest disappeared from her sight, Ly picked up on a number of things, each more unexpected, than the last. An all-too-familiar energy signature, a burst of light and forest energy and a pained cry. The red blinded her and the ground seemed to disappear from under her feet. Before she lost consciousness, one more thing flashed through her mind; possibly the most shocking of them all: there had been another energy signature nearby. Something familiar, yet at the same time, far different than any she had known up till now.


	5. Conundrum

Took longer than I had hoped on this one, mainly due to increasing demands in university. Hopefully I'll be able to keep a chapter/2-3 week average from this point on. Also, lets get into the beefy part of the whole thing.

Now...as you may immediately notice in this chapter(well, after you've read it of course), is that I have removed a rather huge chunk of the original version, mainly the Skops story arc. Why, you may ask? While there were admittedly some parts in it that I really enjoyed writing, it turned out to be a bloated mess of stylistic mismash and a general 'are they still on Namek' feeling. That story arc(apart from its end), had little to no bearing to the main events. I designed that arc first and foremost to solidify how tight-knit and trustful they are towards each other, but I think I've done an adequate job portraying that in the past few chapters and I really didn't need that huge mess to reinforce it even more. As such, I decided it's best if I cut it out and proceed to the more juicy parts of the plot. Believe me, if you remember the climax of that arc, that is still NOTHING to what I have prepared over the course of this story.

So, with that explanation out of the way, I hope you'll continue to enjoy the events nonetheless! Have fun and review, if possible!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Conundrum<strong>_

"You idiot!"

His cry roused the darkness of his surroundings, drawing power without paying much attention at all. The shadows of trees and bushes molded into one, forming a circle around the mage's feet, flaring as they were a searing blaze of fire. Normally, he did not allow himself to be worked up to such a degree, but under the current situation, it would have been a miracle if he had been able to keep his calm at all.

His plans had failed. No, not even failed, possibly wrecked to the point of being no longer salvageable. He had spent years of his life seeking knowledge and wisdom, all to culminate in this spectacularly aborted show. Even his servant, no more than a sentient glob of energy took a cautious step back. It had been quite some time, since he'd last seen his master in such a state.

"Do you have any idea at all of what you have just done, you stupid fairy?" he hissed, his voice dripping with hatred.

"Not as much as I'd like." she spoke up, her voice broken up by her panting for air. She'd dashed through a long way to get here, but for little to nothing in return. "But I do know that wherever they are, it's better for them than what you have planned."

Although there was an obvious difference in height between them, the fairy standing several inches taller than the mage, even with his oversized hat, she could not help but feel they were still equal in some sense, especially in scale of power. She'd clashed with him before and although it was safe to say she had underestimated him at the time, he was more than capable of putting her through a lot of work, before she'd make so much as a dent on his defenses.

Nonetheless, Betilla stood tall before Mr. Dark, their power surging as they watched ever move of their opponent. Her hands were glowing in brilliant, but translucent green, the energy of pure nature flowing inside her palms, while he wielded what seemed like living darkness; a swirling solid black mass, that would shape to whatever his will desired it to.

"You and your self-righteous attitude are what makes me more than proud to despise your species." he growled, yellow eyes gleaming as if to char a hole in her elegant dress. "The spell you've just disrupted might have very well cost their lives and all you care for is that I didn't succeed? Better re-evaluate your priorities."

"I don't need you to give me a lecture about caring for others." she called, far louder than she'd originally intended, her anger boiling. If he honestly thought she had no mind for her students, or the Hero of the Glade, he was sorely mistaken. She wasn't about to indulge him about moral questions though.

Several tense moments passed between the two, as both watched the other intently, ready in case a fight broke out. Dark Rayman's eyes kept darting between the two, unsure of what he should do. His master had given no indication that he should sneak an attack on her, or divert her attention and attacking the fairy head-on was something even he wasn't ready to do. She was giving off an uncomfortably powerful vibe.

"I thought I've told you before, you are not welcome here." she spoke up again in a slow and measured tone, never breaking eye-contact with him. "Yet you dared to return

"I'd love to entertain your fantasy in which your opinion matters to me, but I have better things to do right now." he remarked, making a few quick gestures with his hand. The shadows reacted and began to swirl around him more violently. She prepared herself, but quickly realized his magic was not an offensive one.

"For your sake, I hope you haven't ruined everything." he called out once more, before the shadows enveloped him. A strand reached out and surrounded Dark Rayman as well, to which the shadow limbless reacted very calmly. It must have been a spell he already knew.

The fairy eased up only as both vanished into the rain, leaving no trace but the broken runes, which had kept the three at bay a few minutes ago. She only became aware of the rainfall now, as the water steadily piled up in the folds of her robes, turning her neatly kept scarlet her into a washes mess as well, without her hat.

She let out a long sigh and walked over to the once-prison, squatting down to examine the runes. Though the magic in them had been badly disrupted, they still contained enough energy to make an identification possible. She would have done better with someone who specialized in a field such as this, but with someone of much higher authority behind her, she did well nonetheless.

_Group-teleportation runes. They've been mostly unused since the construction of the first Teensie Circles._

"Seems like he'd dug them up somewhere." she mused, the thought of the mage dabbling in ancient magic unnerving her greatly. He was already powerful enough without it. "Can you determine their destination."

_Give me a second...some of these symbols are especially obscure ones. They...Betilla, he wanted to take them to the Cave of Bad Dreams!_

"What?" she asked back in disbelief, some blood leaving her face right away.

The Cave had always been a popular folk story, used especially to scare small children and sway older ones against overzealous adventuring. Few knew just what horrors those caves truly held and even fewer could claim a sane mind, after having faced even an inkling of the darkness hidden in those ancient chambers.

_I feared he might grow bold enough to try and strike out, but this is far worse than I had expected. He either knows all too well what he's about to do, or has absolutely no idea how much he could kick the hornet's nest._

"Either way, it's a good thing they're not there." she sighed, a shiver running down her spine as her soggy robes clung to her back. The storm was only getting worse by the minute. Another few hours of such heavy rainfall and she'd have to send several fairies to assist with the minor floods this would cause.

"They're in the Marshes though, right?" she had to know this right away. They seemed unharmed and while that region was nowhere near safe, with Rayman around, they had a good chance of returning without a scratch.

_Yes. I can't see them properly though, the Cave obscures much of the region. They're alive and not suffering from any grievous injuries, from what I can tell though._

"Good. I'll head back into the Council for now. I'll send a few Teensies and fairies ahead to key points. If any of them come in contact with either of the three, they'll guide them back to the Circle." she stated, standing up again.

While she would have preferred to go after them herself, a sweep across the Marshes was a much sounder idea, than a single person scouring through it, not to mention someone as powerful as her. Her presence alone could disrupt the balance there and draw unwanted attention. The scouts would easily find them, unless they happened to crash-land into the Swamps of Forgetfulness; a scenario she wished she would not have to deal with.

It was a particularly horrid part of the region, which while seemed far less hostile than the rest of it, was all the more deceptive. Ancient magic ran amok there several millenia ago, which had resulted in the corruption of its nature, waters and air. Even the softest exhalations there could cause serious damage to a person's mind.

_We're still one step ahead of him. He believes you had disrupted his spell._

"Yes...but that's no reason to celebrate." she sighed, taking a different route back, with more trees to give her shelter along the way. "Teleportation magic is complex. Even experienced fairies would have trouble breaking them, especially in the middle of activation and with no prior knowledge."

_Then everything is going as planned. Perhaps even better._

Her mood soured and she felt disgust creeping through her though, as the god's tone changed. "Sometimes, you honestly surprise me. I just wish more of your children knew this much about you." she hissed, her words dripping with venom. Her reward was only momentary pain in her head though.

_You are my closest servant Betilla, but I will not take that tone even from you! I am no saint, but you should be more aware of your own role and place!_

Polokus' ethereal voice just about boomed in her head, making her grit her teeth as long as he spoke. She wanted to snap back at him, to reignite several old arguments between them that had never reached a suitable conclusion, but had no will to do so right now. As much as she utterly hated to admit it, the god spoke truly.

_I'm sorry. I know how much this burdens you, but I still need you, Betilla. There is no one in this world who understands these things better than you do. I need your strength and wisdom to make it right this time._

And there it was again. Betilla huffed for a few moments, but much of her anger seemed to have vanished. Her cynical self suggested this was his doing and although that could have been a possibility, she knew the god would never manipulate her in such a way. He needed her head to be clear and maintained, but on her own accord.

"I wish it would be so." she spoke up again, after a few minutes. "But one day, we will have to confront the past, whether we'd like to, or not."

Polokus remained silent to her words and she knew he was digesting her words as much as she had contemplated upon them herself. There were many things hidden from her sisters, of which she knew of, perhaps too many things even. The trust of a god came with many perks, but also many inconveniences as well, she could attest to that.

Her dwelling upon past matter was broken though, as she heard the sound of feet skipping across the woods, going through everything in their way. It didn't take long for her to identify the her upcoming visitor as a fairy and a rather startled one at that. She hardly mentioned her leave to anyone, so if this fairy had gone all throughout the Glade to find her, it had to be something important.

"Betilla!" she readily heard the fairy called her name, her young sister quickly exploding into view.

She stopped a couple of feet before her elder, grabbing onto a tree as she drew air in rapid pants, out of breath from her sprint. She was fairly young, barely even half a century, as far as she could tell just by looking at her.

"What happened, child? Why have you sought me in such a hurry?" the elder fairy asked, already having bad feelings about whatever news she might have carried.

"It's...Betilla, it's horrible..." she ventured, still in the middle of catching her breath, many of her words jumbling up as a result. "She found...struck through...and Globox...Rayman had..." was all the elder fairy could make out.

"I couldn't understand that." she said, putting a hand on her shoulder as she was slowly getting herself together again. "Take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

The fairy nodded and inhaled, cringing as she thought of the news she had to deliver. "There's...there's been a murder in the Glade."

Betilla gasped and pulled her hand back in horror. While this region did know crime, it hardly ever extended beyond the level of childish thievery. An assault on someone, much less their lives, was something no one had seen or heard of, since the Pirate Invasion. What startled her the most wasn't the act of murder itself though, but the fact that Polokus felt just as surprised, as she was.

* * *

><p>Dreaming hadn't been the same since he had first been haunted by nightmares. Of course, he some nightly frights in his childhood, but those hardly took more than a soft cuddle or a shelter in his mother's bed to vanish. The ones that had begun a while ago though, were hardly comparable to the weird and childish terrors he had faced before in his sleep.<p>

These were different, voices and faces obscured by a veil of darkness, speaking in tongues he knew not of. A score of lights and a huge jolt usually brought him back into consciousness, but these were only the better ones. Something more horrific lay deep inside his mind, watching and waiting for every second it could break free and rampage through his dreams.

He had seen death, mutilated remains of strangers and friends, discarded by creatures he could never describe without finding his tongue in knots. Black eyes like an infinite abyss, clawed hands and sharp fangs, but those were only the things he could readily identify, while the rest of his unsettled nights came from just that mass of endless dark void that threatened to consume him and his entire world.

The fairies treating him were never satisfied with how he described everything and insisted all the time that he should allow them to look into his mind and investigate the possible causes of such visions. The first time he was more than anxious to comply, but something broke between them during that search into his mind, something that forever soured every further attempt to unearth the cause of his nightmares. He'd returned several times over, but eventually turned to suppressing them by his own will instead. For a while, it seemed to have worked, too. Only these past few weeks had they intensified once more, tainting all his pleads for a meaningful rest.

_The abyss had opened up again and seemed deeper and more terrifying as ever and through all that horror, there was a call as well, a summon he simply couldn't ignore, compelling him to-_

Salian awoke with a near-lunge, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. It took him a moment or two to properly assess he had really woken up and no longer stuck in his dreams. He considered it a rather bad sign that he actually needed to make sure of this. It gave him a bad sense of foreboding, even though this should have been the least of his troubles right now.

A minute was all it took for everything to return to him though, sending another jolt through his body. Mr. Dark, Rayman's clone, the runes, all of these flashed through his memory in rapid succession. Several hours might have passed already, as his body felt slightly heavy from lying around too much. He began to glance around in panic, looking for his friends.

Ly turned out to be almost right in front of him, her back set against a rather smooth stone slab. She appeared to be asleep or just out cold, just like he had been after what had happened. She seemed unharmed apart from a slight singes on the sleeves of her body suit from the power of the runes she had tried to tamper with and a scar on her upper arm.

That only covered a small part of what he needed to know right now though. A whiff of the uncomfortable, heavy and almost putrid air suggested they were in a rather swampy area, making it easy to guess the region at least. The boy reached back and found there had been a stone behind him as well, suggesting someone set both of them to lie more or less comfortably. Rayman was the obvious contender for that, but he couldn't hear, nor see him anywhere.

"Ah, you're awake!"

For the third time now, Salian jumped slightly the voice shattering his trail of thought and immediately reminding him of all the possible danger they might be facing right now. He turned towards the noise, only to find himself face to face with an oddly-shaped creature with a rather large, elongated purple head. Big eyes with small back irises gazed at him, nearly making him cry out, only for realization to kick in.

"Sssssam?" he called out to the serpentine creature, the name rolling off his tongue like the hiss of a snake.

"You remember!" he chuckled, the sound of his laughter easing the boy's nerves already. "I'm surprised, it's been a few yearssss since we've last seen each other!"

"Yes, it's been a while..." he mused, rubbing his shoulder a bit. Sure, it was nice to see an old friend stroll by, but there was still the matter of their presence here. "Ssssam, do you happen to know-"

"-where Rayman issss?" the marsh serpent finished for him, smiling as much as his kind was capable of. "He should be back soon, he's just looking for a suitable trail to the Teensie Circles. He woke up shortly after you guys fell here, found me and asked me to look after you two 'till he got back."

"Really? That's great." the boy sighed, leaning back against the rock again, closing his eyes again. If Rayman was already taking care of the situation, they were in luck. He was always the first to react to whatever bad situation they managed to get into, whether it was a prank gone bad or something more serious.

Something still kept nagging at him though, despite the reassurance from seeing Sssssam. The Marshes seemed awfully quiet for a place usually teeming with life, even if most of it would simply be mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies. He certainly didn't miss them, but it was strange he couldn't hear so much as a simple buzz, other than the noise of the water the serpent was swimming in.

"Has Ly woken up before?" he asked, gazing at the fairy. She seemed to be slumbering peacefully, her arms laid to rest upon her legs as she kept sitting against the smooth slab.

"Once, but she fell asssleep again." the serpent remarked, his excited motions making ripples in the water. He was obviously happy to have guests again. "I guessss all that magic stuff tired her out."

Salian couldn't help, but raise a brow at that. While it was plausible that fatigue might take over the fairy, he didn't think she'd allow herself a wink of sleep, until he had woken up. Some might have mistaken this for him expecting too much, but he knew better. This was the fairy who could stay up an entire night until a start shower, to alert her other, more sleepy friends not to miss it.

He let his hand rest on the ground and gripped a bit of the grass, rolling it between his fingers. It certainly seemed like grass, but the texture reminded him more of a carpet, than the actual plant. Something was amiss here and it was getting him worried again. Even Sssssam seemed off, as however superficial of a difference, but he definitely remembered the serpent having a red scarf, curiously missing. Rather than show it though, he continued to sit and appear just simply lazy.

"By the way...where exactly did Rayman find you?" he spoke up again after a bit of thinking. His right hand found itself a rock in the meantime, unseen by the serpent due to how he'd been sitting.

"About half a mile from here." he replied without missing a beat. "He was lucky we were having a swimming competition with the others, otherwise-"

"You're not Sssssam!" Salian cried out all of a sudden, tossing the rock against the purple serpent, hitting it square in the face.

He knew it was impossible for Sssssam to have had a swimming competition with his kind, as they were driven to just about extinction during the Pirate Invasion. Whatever was going on, it had to be ruse. For a horrifying instant though, he almost thought he'd made a mistake as the serpent wobbled slightly, only for his surroundings to quickly grow blurry and muddled, all part of an elaborate illusion. The boy shook his head furiously to get rid of the effects of the spell and by the time he opened them again, he was met with a much worse sight.

"Well, I hate to give it to you, but you were right! The little runt is a lot more perceptive than I'd expected. Strange, Thornshard leaves usually put you in a much deepers sleep."

The old, but unmistakably womanly voice instantly brought him to reality as his senses finally showed him where he really was. It seemed like a chamber of some sorts, filled to the brim with various alchemical ingredients and instruments he'd never even heard of. Bottles and flasks of various sizes and shapes were scattered on the ground and lazily dropped onto various cupboards and shelves. A cauldron of unknown liquid bubble in the middle of the room, the heat of the fire burning under it supplying the room with warmth.

Several lights hung from the seemingly stone ceiling as well, unknown magic filling them with enough light to perfectly illuminate the room and all who were in it. Salian's eyes picked up several alarming things at once, his mind working overtime to take it all in. He saw Rayman across the chamber, struggling against a pair of magical cuffs across his hands, keeping him latched firmly onto the wall, while his feet were planted firmly on the ground, encase in what seemed like hardened clay. His face was slightly bruised, signaling he hadn't gone down without a fight.

He saw a fairy lying on the ground nearby, restrained by good old-fashioned ropes instead, wrapped around her arms behind her back, along with her ankles. She seemed battered, breathing slowly and heavily, indicating she was or had been under great pain. He glanced aside, his heart jumping in his throat as he saw another two fairies on top of each other, motionless. Lack of movements weren't really the worst about them though, that honor went to how faded their hair seemed to be and the way their bones were showing through their skin, their faces locked forever in a look of anguish, as they seemed to have had the life itself drained from them until they were hardly more than lifeless husks.

In the midst of all this stood an old woman smirking at her, her black eyes filled with something he could only describe as utter madness. Nothing about her seemed sane, but her eyes were perhaps the most telltale of that. She stood about as tall as Betilla, her orange, though already dimming hair falling down her shoulders. Her clothes seemed much more like rags and various leather pieces strung together in an awkward measure and while she still seemed to carry some of her beauty, he could see the sign of wrinkles on her face, which posed in the same kind of sickly, dirty green skin tone the rest of her body has as well. The lack of any visible harm on her suggested he hadn't really hurt her though, only the illusion.

"Told ya." Rayman breathed from across the chamber, giving another bit of struggle to the binds, to no avail.

"Yes, yes, I'll be sure to note that down upon your tombstone, dearie." she waved at him in a rather annoyed manner.

"I liked you better when you were a cranky old frog-witch."

"And I liked you better when you were food for the rats?" she snapped, her eye twitching at the sight of him. Her whole body trembled along with it, the involuntary muscle spasms reminding Salian of someone hit by electricity.

"Or has that not happened yet? Well, I'll make sure of it! Poor rats, never tasted limbless before, I wonder if it's like chicken, serpent, or maybe even fairy?" she chuckled to herself in a way that made shivers run down Salian's spine. "Deep friend limbless in boiling marsh-water, sounds delectable, doesn't it?"

"You're crazy." the limbless groaned. "You were nuts the first time we've met, but it's only gotten worse."

"Like you would know!" she shrieked loudly, making both Salian and Rayman cringe. "Madness, yes? A state of mind, a place, an odd bit of title of information of a mindset, quite unfitting of such a lady! I am not mad, merely slightly over the slippery of an edge, dangling, clinging, biting onto it, tearing at it, but still holding on quite nicely, if I may say so."

"Or would you disagree?" she mused, turning to Salian this time around. He swallowed a bit, gazing into those black, bloodshot eyes, the recurring twitch in the indicating she wasn't quite steady on that ledge she had just mentioned. "Sweet little fairy boy, surprise, surprise, old Polokus has freshened the bloodlines a little?"

She reached out and ran a trembling hand across his face, eying him with a wide smirk. He would have smacked her hand away by pure reflex even, but found her couldn't move an inch, bound in a similar fashion as the fairy near the cauldron and -as a quick glance aside let him know- Ly as well.

"Hmpf, yet another who can't appreciate mature beauty." she grumbled, landing a slap across his face as she noticed him glance aside. "Ungrateful little bastard, no want, no appreciation, none of that mad love for poor Bégoniax." she wailed in a futile attempt to have them pity her. The name surprised Salian though, as he did remember the name of the witch from the tales Rayman had told them, except she seemed a lot different than what he had described.

"Doesn't matter!" she called out, her mood rebounding almost immediately. "Because soon you won't have to bother anyway. All that life, youth, power, lovely-lovely energy will be mine, dinner, supper, lunch and all around fine meal! I'll be young again, young as a fresh spring flower!" she giggled to herself and let go of his face, strolling over to Ly instead, much to his and Rayman's dismay.

"Wakey-wakey little sunshine, the storm is coming and the black moon's light is shining brightly..." she purred in a surprisingly hushed voice. Receiving no answer, her eyes sharpened and her fingers curled almost to claw shapes. "Silent treatment, eh?" she asked herself, raising her hand to slap some life in her, only to start grinning instead once more.

"I've got a better idea." she mused in a very grating melodic voice, reaching lower instead. Both Rayman and Salian closed their eyes and cringed once she'd found her goal and grabbed it, giving the fairy's tail a vicious pull. Ly woke up immediately from whatever deep sleep she'd been in till now, her loud cry echoing off the chamber walls.

"Wonderful!" Bégoniax chuckled and clapped a bit. "You should consider a career in singing little rat, you have a beautiful scream!"

The young fairy merely hissed a bit in pain instead, still hurting quite a bit. Not all fairies had tails, or even the bushy kind she had, but those who did learned very quickly not to let anyone ever do this to them as it was possibly the most painful thing they could experience.

"Now, since you've woken up, I think it's time for you to see something interesting." she purred, grabbing a fistful of her dark blue hair. "Especially since you will be sharing your sister's fate eventually. Time's flying and I'm not getting any younger...or rather, actually, I will!" she chuckled, tossing the bound fairy away.

"What kind of a maniac are you?" Ly groaned, her mind a bit foggy from all the events in such a rapid succession.

"The kind that wishes you to shut up." she turned to the fairy again, a look of pure hatred on her face. "I honestly don't want to spoil you before the fun, but if you don't keep those pretty green lips shut, I will tear off your nails one by one, cut your tail off for a coat and chop you up into little tiny piece, before feeding you to both of your friends." she nearly hollered those last few words, making her go deathly pale as well as slightly nauseous from the described scenario. Still, it did the job, she certainly silenced herself.

"Now, back to work!" she giggled, her mood shifting once again.

The witch strolled over to the other fairy and leaned down, grabbing her arm. With a swift motion, she cut her with her sharp nails, letting a bit of her blood drip onto her hand, before turning away from her. The pain awoke the fairy though and she had now begun to shift around in hopes of freeing herself. She visibly tried to concentrate on summoning her power and sure enough, a glow had begun to form between her bound hands.

Bégoniax poured a bit of the purple liquid bubbling in the cauldron into a small flask and let a bit of the fairy's blood drip into it as well, all the while singing a silly tune to herself. Just as the fairy could have called upon her powers to fight back though, a knife slid out from the sleeve of the witch's clothing and ran straight through her palm.

Ly, Rayman and Salian all watched in pure horror as the fairy gazed at her own profusely bleeding hand in disbelief for a moment, before letting out a cry of pure agony. Bégoniax seemed to remark something about her ruining the fun, but no one seemed to pay attention anymore. As much as they didn't want to experience such a thing, the three simply couldn't take their eyes off her.

The witch shrugged and grabbed the fairies throat, stuffing half the flash into her mouth. Her victim trashed about slightly, but couldn't avoid gagging on and gulping down the contents of the hardened vial, until Bégoniax deemed it sufficient and pulled the flash out, flinging it across the chamber and nearly hitting Ly with it.

Her face turned blood-red almost immediately and her muscles seemed to seize up every few seconds, her body convulsing violently from the effects of the potion. She let out a bloodcurdling scream as the spams grew increasingly painful, her body twisting in ways that could break even a fairy's bones. Bégoniax merely watched upon the sight with a barely suppressed glee, slowly counting down for whatever she was waiting for.

Rayman cringed and tore at his bindings in a futile effort, while Ly curled up, a few teardrops spilling from her eyes as she already seemed to mourn her sister. Salian could only watch in horrified stupor as the fairy's pain seemed to reach new heights, until another powerful seizure just about launched her into the air slightly and apparently proved to be enough for Bégoniax.

She put her hand above the fairy, watching with a downright hungry expression as she involuntarily opened her mouth, as something that resembled a dirty-white mist poured out of her throat and defying logic, flew straight into the palm of the witch. This continued for a couple more moments, while the light fairy's body steadily degenerated into the same kind of empty corpses they'd seen already. She soon had no more to give and merely fell back flat on the ground, all of her very life-essence stolen.

As the last of the mist flowed into the witch's palm, she rose again, watching over herself in pure, unrestrained glee. She watched as the skin on her palm slowly seemed to get smoother, her hair getting stronger and gaining back a lot more of its former color and even her frame was strengthened, her bones growing stronger once again, as if time itself was put on reverse, just for her. Her face went through the most drastic change though as the slightly wrinkled look was gone, giving place to a much more youthful visage, almost comparable to Betilla's.

She giggled to herself and spun around her axis in an exaggerated dance move, enjoying the newfound strength in her limbs once again. The three looking at her could not speak even if they wanted to, still shocked by the violent demise of the fairy. While each of them had encountered death at least during the Pirate Invasion, none of them had been this horrific.

Bégoniax glanced over them and let out another light chuckle, rolling the fairy corpse away with the flick of her slender leg. Her voice was reminded them of cracked bells and the growl of animals.

"Well, who's next?"


End file.
